Our lab tests show that Verizon's iPhone 4 is just as good as the popular AT&T model, if not slightly better. If you've been lusting for an iPhone, but AT&T's network coverage doesn't work for you, the Verizon iPhone will be your savior. But if you didn't want an iPhone before, there's nothing new here to change your mind.

Speed Tests: Verizon vs. AT&T The major difference here, of course, is the network. AT&T's network is faster but less reliable than Verizon's, according to our 18-city tests. AT&T's problems are magnified by the fact that many journalists live in the New York and San Francisco metro areas, where AT&T's network has notorious troubles.

We tested an AT&T iPhone, a Verizon iPhone, and a Verizon Droid 2 Global in our New York City labs by making a series of 10-minute calls. None of the phones dropped a call. But when editor-in-chief Lance Ulanoff used AT&T and Verizon iPhones side by side in Bellmore, NY, the Verizon iPhone was able to make calls but the AT&T iPhone wasn't. It's clear: network coverage is a very personal issue.

Lab testing using the Ookla Speedtest.net app showed how frustrating many New Yorkers find the AT&T network. AT&T's network is faster once you get a connection, but it can take so long to make that connection that the network feels slower overall. Our downloads averaged 2.4Mbps on the AT&T iPhone, versus 1.24Mbps on the Verizon iPhone. But in four out of our ten tests, we saw two seconds of latency on the AT&T network—that's the time to establish the connection, and it's about ten times as long as it should be. That latency is what makes you throw up your hands and say, "this Web page just isn't loading!"

Also, Verizon's speeds were also much more consistent than AT&T's. Verizon downloads ranges from 590Kbps to 1,830Kbps. AT&T's ranged from 1,170Kbps to 5,280Kbps. Yes, that's a much higher peak speed on AT&T, but there's more of a sense that you don't know what speed to expect.

AT&T's unreliability played out in our Web page download testing too. For two out of our three tests, AT&T's iPhone was slightly faster than Verizon's, as you'd expect on a faster network. But on the third test, CNN.com took 50 percent longer to load on AT&T than on Verizon.

The Droid 2 Global, by the way, achieved slightly slower speed test results but loaded the Web pages much faster than the iPhones did, using the Dolphin HD Web browser.

A Note About Coverage Many of the early reviews I read of the Verizon iPhone try to make some sort of conclusion about which phone is better for making calls. The author typically goes to a variety of locations and tries to make calls, and says, oh, Verizon is better.

This isn't helpful. Comparing phones on the same carrier side by side is a way to compare their reception quality. Comparing phones on different carriers just gives you an anecdotal snapshot of the two carriers' coverage in a specific location that is useless to anyone who doesn't go to those same locations.

What matters, if you live in Des Moines, Iowa, is who's better in Des Moines, Iowa—not which carrier works better on the Long Island Railroad or the BART train. For true assessments of whether Verizon or AT&T is stronger in your area, you can turn to a few different sources: Root Metrics provides an independent coverage map comparing wireless carrier coverage. Consumer Reports breaks down wireless carrier coverage by city; and JD Power and Associates assesses call quality by region. Our own Fastest Mobile Networks feature didn't test phone calls, but we checked the ability to hold data connections in 18 different U.S. cities. That said, JD Power and Consumer Reports agree that Verizon has better voice coverage in many parts of the US.

If you're an existing AT&T or Verizon user, you know how well the network works for you. If your network doesn't work well, switch. If it does work well, don't try to fix what isn't broken.

Service Plans and Conclusions Both Verizon and AT&T make the iPhone available on standard smartphone service plans. AT&T's plans are less expensive for light data users, while Verizon's make more sense for heavy users. Both carriers have three tiers of voice plans: 450 minutes for $39.99, 900 minutes for $59.99, or unlimited voice for $69.99. For data, AT&T gives you 200MB for $15, 2GB for $25 or 4GB plus tethering for $45. Verizon gives you unlimited data for $30 and hotspot usage for an extra $20, totaling $50 for the data portion of your bill.

When, back in June, we gauged six iPhone users at PCMag, we found they averaged 161-271MB per month; one user peaked at 450MB. You'd save $5 a month going with AT&T's plan rather than Verizon's, but that shouldn't be enough to make a difference in your choice.

The iPhone 4 goes up against a solid lineup of Android phones at Verizon, including the Motorola Droid X ($199.99-$569.99, 4.5 stars), Motorola Droid 2 Global and the HTC Incredible ($99.99-529.99, 4.5 stars). They're all quite good, and the Droid 2 Global offers a physical keyboard and global roaming capability, both of which the iPhone lack. That said, there's a simplicity and elegance about the iPhone OS (and a consistent level of quality in the App Store) which will definitely draw new smartphone users who are intimidated by Android's more free-for-all, user-configured nature.

Having said that, the iPhone is Verizon's best smartphone…this week. There are two big clouds looming over any iPhone purchase, though. One is Verizon's super-speedy 4G LTE network. If you live in a big city and you want the ultimate Internet speeds (especially for hotspot mode), you'll want to wait for the several Android-based, LTE smartphones coming this spring.

The second question is about the iPhone 5. Apple always introduces new iPhones in June or July. Trust me, it'll happen. The real question is whether that new iPhone will be for AT&T only (with Verizon's model following later) or whether Verizon is getting a brand-new iPhone in five months.

So should you buy the Verizon iPhone? If you're an iPhone die-hard who hates AT&T, well, sure. This is your savior. If you're a satisfied Verizon Droid owner: No. The iPhone 4 is good, but so are Verizon's other top-of-the-line smartphones. If you're looking at your first smartphone, the iPhone is a great choice.

The current Editors' Choice for full-touch smartphones on Verizon is the Motorola Droid X, which is a fine phone—as good as the iPhone in many ways, better in some, not quite as good in others. We consider it equal in quality to the iPhone overall. The Motorola Droid X has held the crown since it was released in July. AT&T's iPhone 4 also got an Editors' Choice when it was released last summer. With a crowd of LTE smartphones on the horizon, though, we're just not willing to give a brand-new EC award to one of last year's phones.

Finally, a note about the rating: The Verizon iPhone 4 gets four stars, even though the Droid X, HTC Incredible and AT&T's iPhone all received 4.5 stars. The difference is seven months, and innovation. When those phones were released, they offered breakthrough features and advanced the state of the art. While Verizon's iPhone 4 is an excellent smartphone, it's the same phone we've had on AT&T for seven months. It's just on a different carrier.

PCMag.com's lead mobile analyst, Sascha Segan, has reviewed hundreds of smartphones, tablets and other gadgets in more than 9 years with PCMag. He's the head of our Fastest Mobile Networks project, one of the hosts...

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